Here We Are

It’s now 2025 and we await whatever fresh hell will be rained upon us.

First thing out the gate: a crazed ex-military whackjob murdered 15 people and injured 30 more in New Orleans. He was promptly dispatched by the police. Of course, the wacky right media claimed he was an illegal immigrant. NOPE, SORRY, he was one of YOURS. (A MAGAt informed me that I should include that this guy was “radicalized by ISIS”, which is true, but honey, let me tell you: HE WAS ONE OF YOURS, MAGAts, and that is a FACT. So, sure, he was influenced by ISIS, but the guns and the killing of civilians is ALL MAGA. Accept your part in this fucking mess. Asshole.)

Then Cybertrucks start exploding. One blew up in front of Trump hotel in Vegas, killing the driver. I did think it was genius that it blew up THERE, tho. Then, here in GA, a Cybertruck caught fire and burned up on the dealer lot in Decatur. If I had one of those monstrosities, I’d not park it near my house.

We watched Amy Adams in Nightbitch last night. What an odd movie! It is very weird but basically a meditation on what women go through when deciding to have kids and the resentment caused when women give up THEIR lives to be SAH moms. The movie displays these feelings in VERY strange ways. It’s basically a vehicle for Amy Adams to show her amazing acting chops. She slays.

The movie confirms why I never had any interest in breeding. It also confirms what I sensed my whole life from my mother: RESENTMENT. She hated being a SAH mom and I knew it my whole life. I couldn’t verbalise it as a child, but I knew my mother was not a happy housewife. She hated cooking especially, which is why her food was gross.

So, yeah, welcome to 2025. We have plans to get ourselves out of CC debt and start actually LIVING our lives. We are being brave and doing what needs to be done to sever this anchor of debt dragging us down since Nick’s three years at Minuteman working a low paying job. We are getting rid of the debt and starting fresh. NOT a bankruptcy, but we’re draining our investment account. Once the CC debt is gone, we will be able to actually use the money we make to move forward rather than simply tread water like we have for five years.

We want to reconnect with people who matter to us and we want a fucking vacation this year. It’s been over a decade since we’ve gone anywhere. That is just SAD.

So, cutting loose the negatives and setting a course to better ourselves. I hope this country doesn’t collapse or whatever. It will derail our plans and piss me off royally. I hope the infighting of the Shitgibbon brigade will render them ineffective and they’ll piss away their four years. Then we can get the country back on track. Hopefully.

It’s a new year. Let’s get on it.

2025 Reading List

Welcome to a new year of reading!

I read 28 novels and 26 graphic novels last year. Not bad! This year, I’m putting recent acquisitions and reads at the top. That does not mean READING order, just PILE order.

Never Flinch, Stephen King. This was a surprise from Amazon, we’d pre-ordered! I started it immediately after I finished Bazaar of Bad Dreams. It is another Holly book – he just can’t quit her!!

Goodwill Hurl, 10 June 2025
After, Amy Efaw.
Little Deaths, Emma Flint.
Everything You Want Me To Be, Mindy Mejia.
The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever, Jeff Strand.
Tell Me Everything, Elizabeth Strout.
Country of Origin, Don Lee.

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Stephen King. This is a re-read. It’s a short story collection – a style that King excels at. The foreword has valuable info about writing the short story and a bit about his process. Nick has been on a King binge, so I thought I’d join him.

Taste / My Life Through Food, Stanley Tucci. Yes, this is a second read of his memoir. It is SO GOOD. He is extremely witty and you’ll read it in his voice. He shares family recipes along the way. HIGHLY recommend.

Burn the Place, Iliana Regan. Yes, I did read this a couple of years ago, but I picked it up again at Ollie’s. Memoir of being a self taught chef, rising to Michelin heights. It’s about being a queer, self taught chef. STILL a great read. Found the other copy in a pile that Nick moved. WORTH getting twice!

Home, Marilynne Robinson. Pulitzer Prize winning author. This book is one of Oprah’s, so I look forward to reading it. Eh, well, it’s as wordy as you’d suspect for a Pulitzer Prize winning author. It’s slow and ponderous, and feels English to me, despite the author being American. It’s just OK. Finally finished. Not a fun read by any means. Her catchphrase is “he put his hands to his face”. WAY overused, as is a character crying on every other page and saying “it doesn’t matter”. UGH. Probably will not read the other one (below).

Lila, Marilynne Robinson. Same author, same reason for getting it.

The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina, Zoraida Córdova. This author does a lot of fan fic and even writes romances under another name. She is from Ecuador but lives in New York. I think this is a fantasy book set in Ecuador. We’ll find out!
Continue reading “2025 Reading List”

And the Hits Keep Coming!

Small update 12/4: This person had another blowout with some other friends and pissed them off, too, so I really do not think this has anything to do with me. They are obviously going through something. Whatever it is, I hope they get back on track.
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The end of the year is always a challenge with the holidays and spending and all that crap. But I did not have end a long term relationship on my Bingo Card.

As I said in my whiny post on Oct 30, I am tired this year and I doubt I’ll do many social events:

I am typically maudlin this time of year, but this year is really bad. I doubt I will do much socializing. Don’t be offended if I pass on invites and/or don’t offer them.

Apparently this friend did not see that post (or did not care) and a dust up occurred when I told them that I was not doing a big Thanksgiving this year and only having two dudes (who have no local family) over. Cooking for four is the same as cooking for two, but I assume they think it should be THEY rather than the guys and they’re incensed that I’d not want to cook for six. If I cook for six, I may as well do eight, since I have to double the recipes. Slippery slope. I DO NOT WANT TO DO THAT MUCH PREP, COOKING OR SPENDING THIS YEAR. This is about me, not anyone else.

They say that I “made plans” with them in early October. I most certainly did not make plans – trust me, when it comes to cooking, I know exactly what I’m doing and when. This has nothing to do with them at all, really. Yet here we are.

Then when I said that they were getting VERY upset over ONE event, they lost their shit. They accused me of cutting them out of plans and then proceeded to bully and gaslight me in an attempt to get their way. Very bratty. (I have the whole convo saved; RECEIPTS) They even went so far as to say that Thanksgiving is not about food, it’s about hanging out. UM, SINCE WHEN? Apparently they think I’d be cool making popcorn and toast like Snoopy? That is not how I roll and I find it offensive that they’d even say something like that. I can see why they might think that, since every occasion is a party and not about food for them. Then they said ‘merry christmas and happy new year, too!’ (paraphrased) Ok, so now in their mind I’ve cut them out of everything forever and even amen? I did no such thing! This is 100% in their head. Yet here we are.

I think the real reason this blow up occurred was that we’ve been having Sunday Canasta for a while and they’ve been mad that we won’t invite them. THERE IS A REASON: we actually play cards. Canasta is not a simple game and we don’t feel that they’d have the concentration to play. It is not a party occasion, we might have a beer and perhaps some food, but WE PLAY CARDS. We don’t even really chat that much! I think they have the idea that it’s a big party every week – it is not.

I am not happy about losing an old friend, but it is not my decision and I can’t control what other people think. They think that my not wanting to do a big Thanksgiving thing is all about them and there’s nothing I can do about that. I took them off my FB for my sanity. They can read this or not. They can contact me or not. I am open to fix things, but damage has certainly been done.

But I have done nothing wrong and I will not apologize for not being obligated to cook for them on demand. For me, it is about the food and always will be.

I like to party as much as anyone, but DUDE, I am old and tired. And frankly, I’d rather spend time playing cards or having small dinner parties with people who actually do care about the food and want to enjoy it, than staying up all night partying. Parties are great, but there are more things in life than that.

All I can do is move on. So, this is me, moving on. Sigh. Comments turned off, there really is nothing to discuss. :(

The Season Finale I Expected

This timeline sucks.

I knew the mouthbreathing hillbillies would win. This country’s history of racism and misogyny is not getting better or going away. Clearly.

I knew that Obama was an anomaly. I also knew that many, MANY male democrats simply could not bear voting for a woman. I wish voting was PUBLIC. Let’s see who you REALLY are, fuckheads.

I’ve been saying for YEARS that the majority of this country consists of uneducated, ignorant people who have no intellect with which to understand even the most basic concepts of government and society, nor to determine what is propaganda and what is not. I have, AGAIN, been proved right.

This is what happens when you have a populace that has been taught nothing of history, has no reading comprehension and can barely write. This is how the fascists WANT IT. Dumb people are easily manipulated. As for the fucking Boomers whose PARENTS fought Nazis to give them the best economy in the history of the US, welp, I guess they are just so narcissistic and self centered they really don’t give a single FUCK about anyone. I do find it amusing that they are voting to take away their own benefits. I will enjoy watching them struggle with no social security benefits or healthcare. I hope they suffer.

I am too old to get out of this fucking garbage country. I am stuck here. The rest of my life will be affected by the shitshow of T**** and V****. When the orange shitgibbon gets tired of ruling, the young Nazi will have a field day. The Supreme Court will be packed with fascists who are there FOR LIFE. (I use * in their names to keep Google AI from pinging this as an article FOR the fascists.)

It’s awesome to know that the REST OF MY LIFE will be dealing with this. The goddam Boomer motherfuckers will DIE soon, but the rest of us are stuck. We will not get rid of the Electoral College. We will have a packed Supreme Court for decades because the terms will not be shortened. Democracy is DONE, my friends. This country is now in the hands of neo-Nazis and Christian Nationalists who cannot wait to put in their sharia laws. (Yes, the word sharia is associated with Muslim law, however, I feel that it can encompass Christian religious rule as well. The Wiki article is long but worth a read since the tenets of it will be in place here soon enough.) IT WILL HAPPEN. IT IS THEIR PLAN.

The Handmaid’s Tale was not intended as a fucking instruction manual, you idiots.

For those of you who are trying to say “oh, just be nice to them, it’ll all be ok”, well you guys can go fuck yourselves. And for those who did not vote or voted third party you can fuck yourselves, too. And let’s not forget the businesses who support companies who funnel millions into far right causes, you can fuck off, too.

Chick Fil A, Home Depot, Hobby Lobby and Uline – which is the LARGEST DONOR OF ALL – dump millions into the far right. THESE COMPANIES SHOULD BE BOYCOTTED. If your business buys regularly from these far right corporations, YOU ARE THE PROBLEM. Especially Uline. Fuck them, use SE Paper or ANYONE else. And check your local vendors to see if THEY use Uline. They probably do, since Uline is the Sysco of paper goods (meaning pretty much a monopoly). I know you can’t just not get the materials you need to do your job, but you can at least TRY to be aware and choose wisely.

Of course, SpaceX is the second largest behind Uline, but we all knew that M*** dumps millions into the right. Remember that every time you see a Tesla. Here are the first nine top donors with red being R and blue D. Notice the first D donor is less than HALF of Uline’s contributions. This is why the right is winning: corporations who pay off the government to avoid taxes. In a word: GREED.




You can see the whole list HERE. If you think that goods and services are higher because of Biden you are an idiot. The pandemic was a great excuse to raise prices to cockbag levels, then your boi T**** made sure that corporations had zero oversight and could keep prices artificially high. Do you think record profits have nothing to do with inflation? If you do, I again call you an idiot. If the populace had enough intellect to understand economics, taxation and oligopolies, perhaps the corporations would not be running things. Alas…

Corporations are all about the right because T**** will eliminate taxes for them while taxing the shit out of the rest of us. We’ve had tax bills the last several years because of the changes the shitgibbon made LAST TIME. It will only get worse. We pay about $150/mo ALL YEAR on our tax bills. And we DO NOT have the money for it. Even with Nick’s new job, we are far from flush. And now it is guaranteed that we will never be flush. Never.

We will work until we die if we are not strung up for being queer first. In some ways, just getting it over with would be a relief. I’m just too old and tired for a civil war.

So, I hope you mouthbreathers are happy. I can’t wait for YOUR social services to be taken away and for YOU to be taxed to the hilt. It will be my pleasure to hear your cries of “no fair!!” when you get exactly what you asked for.

Assholes.

Two Steps Forward

One step back.

Can’t win for losing.

I am so tired.

Tired of living paycheck to paycheck.

Tired of having to pick and choose who gets medical care (me, Nick, Shasti). I’d LIKE to give my cat every chance to live longer, but I guess that’s OUT since we can’t afford the meds and getting that rotten tooth pulled, which will poison her system. Awesome.

Tired of thinking things are looking up, only to have someone fuck it up.

Tired of dealing with fucking GERD issues. Can’t do a fucking thing about them but get through.

I’ve not had a vacay in over a decade. Not going to get one any time soon, either.

The investment fund is just an auxiliary savings acct. It is pulled from every other month. It will run out. Then what?

My hands keep me from f/t kitchen (hell, even P/T) kitchen work. My narrow skillset makes me unemployable. Awesome.

I feel 100% defeated. As usual.

We will work without a break until we die. No vacay. No nothing, just work.

I am typically maudlin this time of year, but this year is really bad. I doubt I will do much socializing. Don’t be offended if I pass on invites and/or don’t offer them.

I just need time to get through this. Give me space, I’ll be over it soon enough.